In the evolving global energy landscape, renewable sources are becoming increasingly cost effective. Even without subsidies, renewables are often the cheapest option available. This chart, created by Visual Capitalist's Selin Oguz and Ryan Bellafontaine, in partnership with the National Public Utilities Council, shows which electricity sources are the most and least expensive in 2024, using data by Lazard. Onshore Wind and Solar: A Bargain with Subsidies Onshore wind power effectively costs $0 per megawatt-hour (MWh) when subsidies included in ..read more

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has announced that the European Union will send Ukraine 1.5 billion euros ($1.63 billion) that represent revenues from Russian assets frozen by the 27-member bloc. "Today we transfer 1.5 billion in proceeds from immobilized Russian assets to the defense and reconstruction of Ukraine," von der Leyen wrote on X. "There is no better symbol or use for the Kremlin's money than to make Ukraine and all of Europe a safer place to live."Following Moscow's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 ..read more

Nigeria's largest refinery, the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, is reselling crude oil cargoes from both the United States and Nigeria. Reuters sources indicate that this move, unusual for refineries, stems from technical challenges at the plant. The refinery, which began production in January 2024, aims to be the largest in Africa and Europe once fully operational. It's designed to shift Nigeria from a fuel importer to a fuel exporter. However, recent events suggest the refinery is grappling with operational issues, specifically with its crude distillation ..read more

The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States rose this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Friday. The total rig count rose by 3 to 589 this week, compared to 664 rigs this same time last year. The number of oil rigs rose by 5 this week, after falling by a single rig in the week prior. Oil rigs now stand at 482—down by 47 compared to this time last year. The number of gas rigs fell by 2 this week to 101, a loss of 27 active gas rigs from this time last year. Miscellaneous rigs stayed ..read more

Oil prices slumped on Friday, with Brent crude falling 1.57% in afternoon trading as the oil demand outlook out of China continues to weigh on market sentiment. Oil prices are set to finish out a loss for the week, a weak starting point for OPEC as they prepare for their Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee meeting scheduled for August 1. China’s refinery utilization has sagged this month, down 3.5% from this same time last year, and its crude oil imports have also been done 325,000 year over year through June. This disappointing crude ..read more

  Canada’s federal government plans to postpone the sale of the state-owned Trans Mountain oil pipeline for after the 2025 general election amid politics, regulations, and slow progress in talks with indigenous groups, Bloomberg reported on Friday, quoting officials with knowledge of the discussions within the cabinet.   The Federal Government of Canada bought the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion (TMX) from Kinder Morgan back in 2018, together with related pipeline and terminal assets. That cost the ..read more

It's been a volatile week in oil markets as concerns over Chinese demand pressured prices despite a decline in U.S. crude inventories and wildfires in Canada.Friday, July 26th, 2024A rollercoaster of the week has left most market watchers guessing as to what might be coming up next for oil. Canada’s wildfires, continuously decreasing US oil stocks, and GDP figures in the States coming in well above expectations should have lifted sentiment, but the signals went mostly unnoticed amidst a widespread tech stock selloff and a commodity-wide ..read more

Chinese electricity consumption in the data services industry and for charging and battery services soared in the first half of 2024, driven by technology and electric vehicles, data from the China Electricity Council has shown. Power consumption in data centers, big data, and cloud computing jumped by 33% between January and June compared to the same period of 2023, according to the data cited by China Daily. China’s electricity consumption for charging and battery swapping services surged by 63.7% in the same period, Jiang Debin, deputy ..read more

Mexico is scouring the U.S. and Asian fuel markets for more imports of gasoline and diesel in 2024 and 2025 as the country’s newest refinery is struggling to start up, several traders have told Reuters. The Olmeca refinery, also known as Dos Bocas, is a flagship project of outgoing Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who sought to reduce Mexico’s dependence on fuel imports from the United States. The 340,000 barrels per day (bpd) refinery, however, has seen multiple delays and budget overruns and is ..read more

Even as independent Chinese refiners have reduced the intake of Iranian crude amid low refining margins, China has continued to import near-record levels of Iranian oil this year as a new demand center emerged in the northeast of the country, Reuters reported on Friday, quoting trading sources and tanker-tracking firms. The port city of Dalian, which has 6% of China's crude processing capacity, has seen only sporadic shipments of oil from Iran in the past few years, oil flow tracking firms Vortexa and Kpler have told Reuters. But Dalian has recently ..read more